Indonesians move closer to final of men's doubles

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian men's doubles teams booked their semifinal places and moved closer to setting up an all-Indonesian encounter for the title at the Badminton World Grand Prix Finals in Brunei Darussalam on Thursday.

The two Indonesian pairs beat Danish opponents for their second straight win in their respective group matches.

Olympic gold medal winners Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan had little trouble in taming second seeds Martin Lundgaard Hansen and Lars Paaske 7-3, 7-1, 7-0 in just 13 minutes in their Group B match at the Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium.

"We did not give them the chance of taking offensive initiatives as we pushed them to their backcourt from the beginning," Tony told The Jakarta Post over the phone.

Tony also attributed his team's victory to the advantageous court.

"Today we played in Court 3 which is less affected by strong winds coming out of the air conditioners. We had a no problems in controlling the shuttlecock," he said.

Playing in Group A, Indonesian makeshift team of Halim Haryanto and Sigit Budiarto were forced to stretch muscles before sealing a 7-0, 8-6, 0-7, 7-1 win over top seeds Michael Sogaard and Jim Laugesen in 43 minutes.

"I am sure that we have a great chance to set up an All- Indonesian final on Sunday. But it will depend on Saturday's semifinals," said Tony after the match.

The cross-over semifinals on Saturday will pit the Group A winner against the Group B runner-up and the Group B winner against the Group A runner-up.

In the mixed doubles, Tri Kusheryanto and Minarti Timur also had a tough time in defeating the Chinese pairing of Chen Qiqiu and Chen Ling. Losing the second game, Tri and Minarti went on to post an 8-6, 5-7, 8-6, 8-7 win.

World champion Hendrawan was no less exhausted after being forced to play five sets by China's Luo Yigang, whom the Indonesian finally beat 7-4, 4-7, 0-7, 7-4, 7-2.

"I played just as I used to even when I lost the second and third sets. Everybody can lose a game and it's no big deal," he told the Post.

In Group C, Indonesian Open winner Marlev Mainaky defeated Richard Vaughn of Wales 7-0, 7-3, 3-7, 7-2 in 29 minutes, also for a second win.

"I lost the third game when I let my guard down and Richard grabbed the chance. Besides, the air conditioner made it harder to control the shuttlecock," he told the Post.

"The rest was just the usual. I played offensively with a lot of net approaches."

Second-string shuttler Budi Santoso, however, failed to produce another surprise when he was beaten 2-7, 1-7, 5-7 in 37 minutes by Xia Xuanze of China in Group A.

Women's singles Ellen Angelina also failed to match top seed Zhou Mi of China and lost 4-7, 1-7, 2-7 in 25 minutes.

Another Indonesian women's shuttler, Lidya Djaelawijaya had a day off and will resume playing on Friday against fourth seed Gong Zhicao of China. The winner of this match will qualify for the semifinals. (nvn)